Free Trade Area of the Americas

The (overall) American Free Trade Agreement (English: Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA ); Spanish: Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas ( ALCA ), Portuguese: Área de Livre Comércio das Américas ( ALCA ) and French: Zone de libre - échange of Amériques ( ZLEA ) ) is to establish a free trade zone and a "common market from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego ."

The American free-trade zone to include all 34 countries in North, South and Central America and the Caribbean ( for the time being with the exception of Cuba ). This area comprises almost 800 million consumers annually generated goods and services worth over ten trillion dollars.

The plans for the American Free Trade Agreement commenced at the beginning of the 1990s, but are stalled.

History

The plan for the FTAA was presented by the then U.S. President Bush in 1991. But he went ahead have been several attempts to establish a common market across the double continent - the first time in 1967.

As a first step towards FTAA (first American Summit ) was held a conference of Heads of State and Government of 34 North and South American countries in December 1994. Was not involved in it as the only American country to Cuba. The date of commencement of the FTA was envisaged in 2005. However, the negotiations because of major conflicts of interest be very difficult. Thus, the United States insisted on rapid talks on tariff reductions, while many Latin American countries wanted to talk later about this topic.

Only in 1999 the he made the negotiations more than one reached agreement on the formation of working groups. From 20 to 22 April 2001, the third Summit of the Americas was held in the Canadian city of Quebec, where Heads of State and Government again pleaded for FTAA plan and on 7 April 2001 by Trade Ministers of the FTAA countries Buenos Aires work plan adopted confirmed. He foresaw that the negotiations will be completed by the end of 2005. Although now there is a third draft of the FTAA agreement, advise on in November 2003 in Miami but was stopped a day earlier because of large differences. They were accompanied by violent protests by critics of globalization. Nevertheless, the Government known in the Extraordinary Summit of the Americas in January 2004 in Monterrey (Mexico) again to the FTAA plan, as well as the completion of the negotiations at the end of 2005.

In 2005, the United States could with DR -CAFTA, a free trade agreement, which includes several Central American countries and the U.S., recorded a partial success, although the agreement itself in its own country as well as in the partner countries is not without controversy.

Opposition and criticism

As one of the main critics of the FTAA Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who called the free trade zone as a "tool of imperialism " in Latin America was to spread. As a counter-proposal to this initiative, Chávez has established the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in 2005. The focus is on agreements on energy and infrastructure market, which will be gradually expanded and will eventually lead to a complete economic, political, and military integration of the Member States.

Evo Morales holds the planned FTAA for U.S. dominates and for an "agreement to legalize the colonization of America."

On the other hand, said the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Argentina, Néstor Kirchner, not against the FTAA, but rather requested some amendments to the contract. Especially the open or hidden subsidized agricultural goods are removed from the U.S. and the assurance of effective access are inserted to foreign markets.

One of the most controversial points, set by the United States in the Treaty relates to patents and intellectual property. Critics claim proposed by the U.S. measures would inhibit scientific research in Latin America. This would result from technological dependence on developed countries more inequality. Regarding the patents my critics, such as Maude Barlow, that the U.S. wanted so patented Latin American inventions themselves.

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